Online Productivity Tools (Thing 13

Customized Home Page: I chose to use iGoogle simply because I am familiar with the customized Google products and already have a login and I am getting "login" overload. I like the options in the Google homepage. I loaded my Google Reader feeds, along with news and cooking feeds. I found a fun header and there it was. Creating a google homepage is easy and to me this is nothing new. I've been a Yahoo user for a long time and the MyYahoo main page is essentially the same thing. Although, I think that iGoogle offers a lot more choices and more tabbed pages. I like the drag and drop features, the ability to move the feeds around as much as you want.

Calendars: Again, I used the Google calendar for ease of use. It is very easy to use and I am tempted to share my calendar with JD's and then we can have a combined family calendar. I do like printed, calendars and like to write stuff down, so I'm not sure if it is something I want to use or will use on a regular basis.

To-Do Lists: I quickly tried Remember the Milk just to see what it looked like. It also had the option to import it into the Google calendar. I thought that it might actually inspire me to use it at a later date. HA! For me, to-do lists are a tactile thing. I like to write them out and rewrite them and cross things off. There is something in scribbling, though, isn't there?!

Backpackit: I'm on login/tool overload. I looked at it, but didn't sign up or try it.

I think that these tools can be useful. But there comes a point when I'm just sick of being on the computer. (And I'm really getting to that point tonight, so I need to finish this blog entry.) I want to use a piece of paper and a pen.

JD and I discussed using calendars at work for scheduling. In my school, I have a print calendar for the media center and for my personal calendar. Our computer labs use the electronic calendar in our email client. I hear people complaining about them all of the time. People want a calendar to view in front of them, not on a computer screen. They want to flip through the weeks and see it quickly and in front of them. I've thought about going to an online calendar but I don't think folks would use it and I'd get stuck with more scheduling that I want to deal with or have time to deal with.